1) Field of the Invention
The field of this invention relates to devices to assist a human in jumping and further to a system utilized in conjunction with each lower leg and foot of the human which will result in greater energy being obtained in the jumping motion.
2) Description of Prior Art
In the sport of basketball, players not only jump to significant heights, but are continually jumping as well as running over long periods of time. Regardless of their athletic ability, players will lose endurance in jumping as the basketball game is played.
Basketball shoes in the past have been designed to assist players in the jumping action. However, this assistance has been limited to the designing of the soles to be shock absorbing or to have a certain amount of elasticity so as to somewhat assist the jumper in the jumping action. However, this assistance has been relatively minimal. There has not been known, prior to the present invention, any device which takes into account certain movements of the leg and foot during the jumping action and connects to the human's leg and foot a device which increases the jumping force by harnessing the energy of those certain movements.
Within the prior art there have been attempts at designing springing devices in conjunction with shoes. One example of such a device is shown within U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,138, issued Feb. 25, 1992 to Robert Borden. In this patent to Borden there is shown a spring strap vertically connecting a shin brace and a heel socket. The shin brace and heel socket are connected by an ankle hinge axis. Borden's structure is highly dysfunctional for several reasons. In order for a force to move an object, the force must be independent of the object. One can't lift a box if one is standing on the box. Borden's shin brace 14 cannot lift heel socket 12 via spring strap 38 because the shin brace 14 is attached to the heel socket 12 at ankle hinge 16. The heel socket 12 and shin brace 14 are pulling on each other. A problem encountered by the current inventor is to maintain the shin brace in place. Bordon's shin brace 14 is held in place by the ankle hinge 16 so the ankle hinge 16 will likewise hold the heel socket 12 in place preventing any upward thrust.
Any rotational movement at ankle hinge 16 would also be unlikely because the human ankle joint not only rotates but moves forwardly as much as an inch when moving into the jump-ready position. That is, when the foot contacts the ground, the whole lower leg moves forwardly including the ankle joint and Achilles area, which is depicted incorrectly in FIG. 2 of Borden as though the leg were broken at the ankle or made of rubber. Borden has created a binding isosceles triangle with spring strap 38 as the base and ankle hinge point 16 the top. When the jumper's knee bends and the lower leg moves forwardly into the jump-ready position, the jumper's ankle joint at the ankle hinge 16 area also moves forwardly. Yet for a lengthening to occur at spring strap 38, ankle hinge 16 and spring strap 38 must move closer together as the triangle flattens. The reverse would occur when the jumper's foot moves into an obtuse angle at lift-off. The net result is the structure of Borden will bind up.
In the present invention, the jumper's foot is free to move independently of the force applied to it, and there is no binding problem. In the preferred embodiment, the force which propels the foot to lift-off position is supported by an angle brace which is in turn supported by the ground under the shoe, with no attachment or support to the angle brace from the upper leg. The converting of force from the forward motion of the human leg to upward motion of the heel occurs over a much larger distance than the stretching distance of Borden's spring strap, so there is far greater energy return. A leg strap is anchored at the shin area. As the jumper's leg bends at the knee causing the shin to move forward and further away from the heel, a tremendous force is exerted between the shin and the heel through a connecting brace/strap by way of the Achilles area which lengthens horizontally the full extent of the forward motion of the lower leg, and extends vertically to connect to the heel itself, pulling up on the heel to increase jumping power.
The standard ankle wrap long used by athletes in all sports is a triangular pattern extending horizontally across (or around) the ankle, then extending down from both sides and both ends of the ankle to under the heel/arch area then back up to connect at both the back and front of the ankle. It is completely interconnected to bind up the ankle and prevent injury. A different method of wrapping was tried by the present inventor. This method did not bind the ankle but rather created a pulling force upward on the heel. The wrap looked U-shaped, not triangular, as it extended from the shin to the Achilles area to the heel to the dorsum, with no direct connection between the shin and the dorsum or shin and heel. Jumping was easier and higher. However, after some use, the wrap would gradually pull down the leg losing its tension and most of its value, no matter how well the wrap had been taped.
The solution to the shin anchoring problem came with the conception of an inverted, steel angle brace (a shelf support brace) anchored to the sole of the shoe, then extending up to the top of the Achilles area where a pivot point (such as a pulley) is located to guide a cable from the shin horizontally to the Achilles area (so the force does not pull down at the shin), and then vertically to a soft sling directly under the heel itself, which is separate from the angle brace or shoe.
It is this (1) horizontal pulling and (2) separation of heel sling from the shoe, with an independent entity (the ground) which supports the shoe which supports the pulling force at the pulley on the angle brace that eliminates the problem of two or more forces working against each other and the two chief elements which make the current invention different from all those preceding. If Borden could eliminate the ankle hinge which creates the triangular binding similar to the conventional ankle wrap, the Borden invention might work except there would then be nothing to hold up the shin brace (it would pull down). Even if Borden's spring strap connected directly to the heel rather than to the heel socket, the triangular binding pattern would still be present due to the ankle hinge. Also, the pulling force would be minimal since it does not derive from the large, forward movement of the leg, but only from a slight movement of the Achilles area. The only embodiment of Borden which eliminates the triangular binding pattern is the coil spring pivot axis, but the previously mentioned forward motion of the rotating ankle joint going into the jump-ready position would still cause a binding problem, plus the jumping force is far too great for a spring of that size to control.
Detoro, U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,479, teaches a device which resembles the subject invention in appearance only. It serves a completely different purpose. In the present invention, the angle brace is claimed only in conjunction with the supporting of flexible braces or straps which are completely different from any straps of Detoro, which merely serve as attachments. In the present invention, the dorsum tension brace or strap 1) mimics the tendons underlying the arch which support the foot against collapse when weight is placed on the ball of the foot at the jump-ready position, thus allowing greater ease in heel movement upwards in relation to the ball, and 2) receives energy from the force of expansion of the dorsal foot due to the weight of the jumper. The brace or strap is flexible but not elastic and extends between its attachment to the foot in the dorsum area and its attachment separate from the foot in the Achilles area. The energy return helps overcome gravity going into the jump. Also, in the present invention, the dorsum tension brace does not fix the device to the foot. It attaches only to the rigid angle brace in the upper Achilles area. In Detoro, there are shown three dorsum straps which attach the sleeve 28 to the patient's foot at three velcro fastener areas 30. There is no direct connection (or pulling force) between the front of the foot and the Achilles area (either lower or upper). Therefore, there is no force pulling the foot into the desired obtuse angle, lift-off position.
The device of Mann et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,871, is referred to as ribs 18 and 20 on each side of the foot within a mold, which is in an entirely different location than that of the present invention. The resulting orthosis of Mann et al. securely maintains the foot and leg in a slightly less than ninety degree angle, rigidity enhanced by the ribs. In the present invention, the foot has its normal full range of movement. In Mann et al. there is no attachment to the ribs by any straps similar to the dorsum tension brace of the present invention.
A further attempt at designing a device which would propel a user to greater jumping heights is what is shown within U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,273, issued Jul. 17, 1990, to Theodore S. Gross. In Gross, because there is no rigid support of the Gross strap, equivalent to the angle brace of the present invention, heel strike would actually shorten the distance between anchor points because of the cushiony heel which would lessen the tension. It appears that lift-off would cause tension due to bending of the foot at the ball area, but then it is too late as tension must occur going into the jump. Moreover, the "artificial tendon" of Gross will not work as a tendon because its forward anchoring point is in the shoe.